Clay Siegall, a well-known cancer researcher and founder cum CEO of Seattle Genetics, is on a mission to reduce the mortality rate due to cancer and other severe diseases. Since he founded the firm in 1998, Dr. Siegall transformed the cancer therapy in a greater way with targeted treatments. He says that during his college days, Dr. Siegall witnessed the sufferings of one of his relatives due to cancer and decided to develop better ways of treatment considering the brutal treatment regimens of chemotherapy and radical surgery. When Dr. Clay Siegall became a researcher, he had great thoughts on generating the treatment methods unique and addressing the need of patients better and decided to found his own firm.

He says that initial years were stressful, and it took almost ten years from the IPO to make Seattle Genetics profitable. During the early years, the operating capital was very low and, Dr. Siegall put his hard work to make the firm profitable. He remembers how the firm’s dynamic sales staff brought the customers for the firm and changed the environment for it. Dr. Siegall understands the importance of his business and does a unique marketing strategy which requires a lot of meetings and negotiations. He believes in hard work and thinks that his successful career is attributed to that. Dr. Siegall says the primary thing that differentiates humans from animals is work habits, and IQ or any other things are just secondary.

Under Dr. Siegall, Seattle Genetics developed antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) named ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin) which became the first ACD product that got approval from FDA. The drug is now a global brand with approval from more than 65 countries. Dr. Siegall also led the firm to make collaboration with Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, AbbVie, and Pfizer.

Before founding Seattle Genetics, he worked with Bristol-Myers Squibb Research Institute and National Cancer Institute. Dr. Siegall is serving on the boards of some pharmaceutical firms and organizations including Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, and Washington Roundtable. He wrote more than 70 publications and currently holds 15 patents. Dr. Siegall completed Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the Maryland University and did Ph.D. from George Washington University in Genetics.